Don’t let the name on the door fool you — Dick’s Sporting Goods is more than just a place to buy fishing gear and baseball bats.
That will become more evident Thursday when the Pittsburgh-based retailer releases the latest campaign for its Calia brand.
Calia was created with country singer Carrie Underwood in 2015 as a private-label women’s athletic brand. And although Underwood exited the brand in late 2021, Calia has continued to perform even without that star power, growing to become the company’s second-largest women’s apparel brand behind Nike.
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“The brand was built on performance,” said Chad Kessler, executive vice president of apparel and vertical brands for Dick’s. “But what we found is that there’s opportunity beyond that. Our customers are loyal to the brand and there’s an opportunity to stress more lifestyle and fashion as the brand goes forward.”
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As a result, Dick’s has slowly been adding more lifestyle products to the Calia assortment to position it as a fashion brand with performance roots. The brand was featured on Project Runway last year where the competing designers were given Calia fabrics and tasked with creating outfits that could be worn in and out of the gym.
“We were honestly really surprised by the response,” said Kessler. “It sold out basically immediately after the show aired.”
That was followed up by the brand’s participation in BravoCon where the company presented the latest Calia collections and offered color analysis sessions to attendees.
The success of both of those initiatives proved to Dick’s that Calia had legs beyond gymwear and it began to add more fashion pieces to the assortment. First up was an indigo collection of soft pants, tops and jackets in Tencel, along with lifestyle dresses, both of which have proven to be “really successful,” according to Kessler.
And now, Calia is adding other products.
“We’ve always had what we call ‘to-from’ product, something you wear to and from the gym or studio, but we’ve launched denim bottoms and jackets in a very high-stretch, comfortable fabric,” he said. Outerwear, lifestyle bottoms, camisoles and cotton tops in sheer gauze and ribs, have also been added to the assortment. “She trusts Calia for the fit, the fabric, the quality, and she’s looking for that comfort and all-day performance. We feel we can fill her whole closet, from performance through lifestyle.”
While Dick’s may never add tailored suits, Kessler believes its brand mix can satisfy the majority of the needs of today’s consumers.
“We have such a range of brands, from Faherty and Free People to Nike and Adidas,” he said. “Each of these brands satisfies something else for the customer, something unique and complementary. We try to make sure that we have a mix of product that brings new customers into the box, and as much as possible, completes her whole wardrobe. And I think Calia has a ton of white space to be a full wardrobe brand for her.”
He said that while considering how wardrobes have changed since the pandemic, demand has shifted. “Comfort is as important as anything right now,” he said. “And even though it says Dick’s Sporting Goods on the door, I think we can be a new department store for her. We have a terrific range of footwear — and people are wearing sneakers everywhere all the time. And then as we mix in our own vertical brands with an evolving range of national brands, we just satisfy her demand and her wardrobe.”
The goal now is to get that message out, he said, “because I think people are surprised when they see the brand mix and the product mix that we have in the store.”
One way to do that is to bring a couple of familiar faces on board. So for Calia’s spring campaign, Dick’s is featuring Christy Turlington and her daughter Grace Burns in “Designed to Move You.”
In stills and a video, the mother and daughter wear looks from the spring Calia line styled by Alex White. The campaign was led by Team Laird and shot by Cass Bird.
Kessler recognizes that comfort fashion product is “a crowded market, but we’re hopeful that Christy and Grace will help cut through that noise and people will see the new message. Calia can suit someone in their late teens/early 20s, like Grace, all the way through to an icon like Christy.”
“Christy and Grace were the absolute perfect choices to bring to life Calia’s new evolved image,” said Trey Laird, founder and chief creative officer of Team Laird. “They not only have such a strong emotional bond that only a mother and daughter can share, but also radiate the timeless classic style that Calia stands for. They are authentic, effortless and represent a modern new chapter for the brand instantaneously. All perfectly captured by our longtime collaborator Cass Bird, whose images always have an iconic spirit and bold energy that felt so right for this launch.”
“I’m excited to partner with Calia at such a pivotal moment for the brand,” said Turlington. “The brand is creating pieces that fit seamlessly into your life while delivering both performance and style. It’s clothing you can truly live in: effortless, but considered. Working on this campaign with my daughter Grace was a lot of fun. The campaign and the collection reflect a modern, multigenerational approach to style — one that values versatility, intention and pieces that move with you throughout the day.”
Burns added: “What I really like about Calia is that it doesn’t feel confined to one category. The pieces are versatile and expressive, and you can style them your own way depending on the day. The brand offers a kind of flexibility that feels natural to how I approach getting dressed — it’s effortless but still personal.”